Sunday, March 7, 2004

Georgia Public Broadcasting Education Director's Message

Dear Educator:

On January 1, 2004, PeachStar Education Services became Georgia Public Broadcasting Education, but the standard of service and materials we provide has remained the same. In fact, we continue to raise the bar in terms of classroom resources, making use of new and emerging technologies to ensure that you are receiving the support and resources you need from us as you go about the work of classroom instruction.

Following the September failure of our satellite, we have not only succeeded in migrating the majority of our receiving sites in order to restore service, we have also bolstered our non-satellite-delivered resources in order to allow you continued use of our video library despite the temporary disruption of satellite service. Since the August 2001 launch of our video streaming service, our repository of digital video clips has increased from 10,000 clips to more than 20,000 clips from 2,000 programs and series. To date, students and teachers from 180 school systems have utilized the service approximately 850,000 times.

The growing utilization of both video streaming and our new webcasting resource, which allows educators to take advantage of professional development opportunities remotely both live and on demand, indicates that the students and teachers we serve across Georgia are comfortable with the digital trend in education technology. We at Georgia Public Broadcasting pledge to provide you with opportunities for training and familiarization as we continue to integrate digital technology into our delivery of educational resources.

In addition to the resources we develop onsite here at GPB, we offer you the best educational materials available through partnerships with organizations such as Annenberg/CPB, for whom we serve as a video streaming mirror site, thereby giving you access to their extended library of K-12 and professional development video resources at no cost.

We recognize that no one is in a better position than educators to guide us in the development and shaping of resources for classroom use. Please share your thoughts and questions with us and help us to be the best service provider we can be by writing to peachstar@gpb.org. We look forward to using your feedback in our continued efforts to meet the needs of Georgia's teachers and learners.